After arriving in Lisbon for World Youth Day, Pope Francis was very busy on the first day of his trip.
The pope spent his time in the city waving at the youth as he traversed the streets, meeting with Portugal’s political leaders, and celebrating vespers with bishops, priests, and deacons.
Currents News’ Christine Persichette spoke with Elise Allen, the senior correspondent for Crux, to discuss Pope Francis’ first day of his trip to Portugal for World Youth Day.
By Jessica Easthope
As Pope Francis descended from the papal plane on Wednesday, Aug. 2, to start his 42nd apostolic trip, dedicated to World Youth Day in Lisbon, he was heartily greeted by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
During his first day, Pope Francis waved to pilgrims as he traveled the streets enroute to his destination.
However, his itinerary primarily consisted of pivotal meetings with dignitaries. He met with President de Sousa, Prime Minister António Costa, and later, joined bishops, priests, and deacons in a solemn vespers celebration.
Young pilgrims eagerly anticipating a chance to see the pontiff in person could hardly wait.
“He’s actually on our shirt for today, and I’m just so excited when I heard that he arrived a day earlier. It was so cool to know that I’m in the same place as him,” said Bea Bonaventura, a 16-year-old pilgrim from Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria. “Not everyone has the privilege to see the pope and especially pray with him. To know that he’s here is definitely a blessing, and with recent health problems, it’s great that he’s here,” she added.
While over 300 young Catholics from Brooklyn and Queens waited to be in Pope Francis’ company, they were led in catechesis by Diocese of Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan.
During catechesis, the pilgrims explored their relationship to Jesus Christ through one another.
“We learn more about God by learning more about each other and learning from each other. It’s that horizontal line that connects us to the vertical line; they intersect, and that’s the cross,” said Patrice Legoute, a seminarian at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie.
For Legoute, his World Youth Day experience reaffirmed his vocation to the priesthood.
“It teaches you and reminds you that the Church is not dead, that Christ is alive, and the Church is alive. It has been such a sincere and genuine affirmation of the priesthood,” he said.
Pope Francis landed in Portugal for World Youth Day Lisbon.
During the flight to Portugal, Pope Francis joked with reporters on the papal plane that he hopes to get younger while on this trip.
Hundreds of people from the Diocese Of Brooklyn are on the pilgrimage to Portugal, awaiting Pope Francis’ message.
The week-long event is a chance for the youth from all around the world to meet their peers.
Pope Francis landed in Lisbon, Portugal, to kick off World Youth Day. It’s his first trip since the abdominal hernia operation he had in June.
At the foot of the stairs of the pope’s airplane, the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was waiting for him. But he waited in vain because the pope did not use the stairs, as he usually does since he has knee problems.
He used the freight elevator on the other side of the plane.
Then the pontiff and the president greeted each other with great affection. Pope Francis used the wheelchair at all times.
During the flight he joked with the press, saying that he hopes to get younger with this trip.
Some journalists presented him with gifts.
Eva Fernandez, from COPE, gave him a very special one: the letter from Pablo de la Cruz, the young man with Ewing’s sarcoma who took his vows as a barefoot Carmelite shortly before his death on July 15.
This year marks the 39th anniversary of the Palm Sunday that Pope John Paul II spent in St. Peter’s Square with 250,000 young people.
There, he gave them a cross, which would later become one of the symbols of World Youth Day.
“Carry it through the world as a symbol of Christ’s love for humanity,” Pope John Paul II told the crowd of youth then.
The institution of World Youth Day was officially announced in 1985.
In 1987, the first international meeting took place. The city chosen was Buenos Aires.
The eight World Youth Days of Pope John Paul II were widely attended and the momentum continued with Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict’s last World Youth Day as pope took place in Madrid in 2011. One of the most exciting moments was the vigil with the youth, even despite the rain.
“Thank you for this joy and endurance,” Pope Benedict XVI said. “Your strength is stronger than the rain. Thank you. The Lord sends us his blessings with the rain. With this, you set an example.”
Just a few months after being elected pope, Pope Francis traveled to Rio de Janeiro to preside over World Youth Day. There, one of the most famous phrases of his pontificate was heard for the first time: “Make a mess!”
“I would like to say one thing: what do I expect as a result of Youth Day,” Pope Francis asked the crowd. “I expect trouble. That there will be trouble here. There will be. That there will be trouble here in Rio. But I want trouble in the dioceses; I want it to go beyond.”
In Krakow, in 2016, Pope Francis visited Auschwitz and prayed in silence in the cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe was tortured.
And each day, from a balcony, he gave a good night speech to the youth. In one of them, he remembered a volunteer who died of cancer weeks earlier.
The last World Youth Day that Pope Francis presided over was in Panama in 2019, where he dedicated several messages to the Virgin Mary. In one of them, he defined her as “God’s influencer.”
“Undoubtedly, the young woman from Nazareth did not appear in the “social networks” of the time,” Pope Francis said. “She was not an “influencer,” but without wanting or looking for it, she became the woman who influenced history the most. And we can call her, with the confidence of children, Mary, God’s “influencer.”
This World Youth Day in Lisbon is the fourth presided over by Pope Francis, motivated by the mission of bringing young people closer to their faith.
A Christian nurse and her child, both Americans, are two of the latest victims abducted by a criminal gang in Haiti.
The U.S. government is quietly and cautiously working to secure their release.
“We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities and we’ll continue to work with them and our U.S. interagency partners,” Matthew Miller, U.S. State Department Spokesperson, said
The family and friends of Alix Dorsainvil are asking for prayers, mercy, and the safe return for the nurse from New Hampshire and her child.
They were kidnapped Thursday from the grounds of the faith-based charity El Roi, near the Haitian Capital Port Au Prince.
Her husband, Sandro, is El Roi’s director.
It’s Pope Francis’ first trip since he underwent an abdominal hernia operation in June.
While it’s his fourth World Youth Day trip as pontiff, it’s the first one since the pandemic.
At 86 years old, Pope Francis is still looking forward to meeting with the young people.
Currents News’ Christine Persichette caught up with Elise Allen, the senior correspondent for Crux, to discuss what to expect from Pope Francis during his trip to Portugal.
By Jessica Easthope
Pilgrims from the Diocese of Brooklyn showed up to World Youth Day this year as a sea of blue.
The Marian shrine at Fatima, Portugal, is visited by 6 million pilgrims every year.
On Tuesday, August 1, more than 300 of them were from the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Currents News’ Jessica Easthope caught up with Bishop Robert Brennan after Mass at Fatima.
“It was so edifying for me as a priest and bishop to come down the aisle and see everyone in the blue shirts; Brooklyn is really well represented here and it’s very inspiring,” Bishop Brennan said.
He was on the bus with pilgrims from Brooklyn and Queens who said being there allowed them to reflect on their beliefs.
“I’ve been going with the flow in such a calm way, it’s been prayerful,” said Isabella Zegarra. “We’ve had moments of reflection. There are so many people that it helps you look into yourself, it’s the first day so I’m excited for more, she added.
“It’s very touching,” said Anthony Decastro, another pilgrim from the diocese who is attending World Youth Day. “Although it was very crowded, it’s overwhelming because you saw where everything came from and it’s all original, all down to earth.”
Both Bishop Brennan and Father Jason Espinal, the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul in Williamsburg, said the pilgrims have been focused on making a connection with Jesus Christ and each other.
“Sometimes you’re far at a distance but you still see them so well behaved, so reverent, so pious, and you see the fruit that’s working in their heart,” Father Espinal said.
“These are young people who worked really hard to get here, they’re not here on vacation, they’re here working and praying, we’re so proud,” Bishop Brennan added.
World Youth Day Lisbon has officially kicked off.
Pope Francis will head to Portugal on August 2nd.
While in Lisbon, Pope Francis will put the final touch on a mural that’s been worked on by people of all different backgrounds from all over the world.
A Christian nurse and her child in Haiti were abducted by a criminal gang from the grounds of a faith-based charity.
They’re trickling in from all corners of the Diocese of Brooklyn and ready to encounter Catholics from all corners of the world.
Ahead of official World Youth Day activities, pilgrims from St. Patrick’s Church in Bay Ridge are already having a spiritual experience.
They started their trip by climbing some of the highest parts of the mountains in Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain.
“As a group we hiked all the way up to this point where there was a cross and you could see over most of Barcelona so that was really cool,” Kerry Woods, a young parishioner at St. Patrick’s, said.
Woods, 17, said it’s been a whirlwind journey thus far, from the peaks of the city to the ceiling of the Segrada Familia, the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.
“It had these stained glass windows inside and everything in the church had a meaning,” Woods said. “Nothing in there was random.”
During the week of World Youth Day, pilgrims are committed to attending Mass daily, even before the event begins.
Ryan Diyarza, 17, who also attends St. Patrick’s Church, said his group is jetlagged but their excitement is right on time.
“At 3 a.m. we get on a bus and we go to the airport and we have to go through customs and we’re getting on a plane for a two hour flight and we lose time and then we go straight out to Fatima,” Diyarza said. “It’s going to be no sleep, but it’s going to be worth it.”